Manny Steward on McCellum vs Roy Jones ..

After watching the actual footage, a young McClellan was more than holding his own against Hearns. Pretty impressive stuff. Regrettably, brain damage derailed not only his career, but, his life. This is one of the inherent dangers of being a professional fighter. And, often it is the fighters with the above average chins like McClellan and Quarry who end up worst in the end. Guys like Michael Moorer (who often get dropped more easily) seem to sustain less lifetime damage.

 

I remember reading an interview with McClellan in KO magazine I think it was where he said something along the lines of ‘I’m a boxer, I’m aware of the risks and that my life could be ended anytime I fight’. I remember re-reading it after the Benn fight and thinking I wonder how he would feel about it now that it has basically happened. Such a tough price to pay.

 

Great footage!

 

I believe if you get knocked onto the ring apron or into crowd you get 20 seconds to get back rather than just 10 so Benn was up within that time, at least in UK rings. Although perhaps even with this the count was a bit slow? What I think is more controversial in the Benn fight is he was pushed back in by a British commentator and Benn's relentless rabbit punching. And I say this as a Benn fan who considers this one of the greatest fights and greatest wins by a UK fighter. Also several posters alerted me to the fact that Gerald was most likely already carrying serious head trauma going into the fight and of course during the fight it is clear something is horribly wrong. I am very conflicted about this fight but when I saw it at the time it was the most exciting sporting event I had ever witnessed.

 

Never heard that 20 second rule

 

From British Boxing Board of Control website:

3.32 Should a Boxer go down to the floor as the result of a legitimate blow, the Timekeeper shall count off the seconds strictly in accordance with their watch. The opponent shall retire immediately to the furthest neutral corner and neither Boxer shall resume boxing until ordered to do so by the Referee.
3.32.1 In this Regulation 3.32, “down” shall mean one or more of the following:-
(a) when a Boxer falls from the boxing ring beyond the ring apron as a result of a legitimate blow; or (b) when a Boxer is on one foot or both feet and at the same time any other part of their body is touching the floor of the boxing ring; or (c) when a Boxer is supported on the ropes of the boxing ring and, in the opinion of the Referee, is unable to defend themself; or (d) when a Boxer is in the act of rising
and in all of the above cases, a Boxer shall be considered to be down until they regained their feet within the boxing ring and is in a position and a condition to defend themself.
3.33 If a Boxer is “down” under the provisions of Regulation 3.32.1(a) they must return to the boxing ring unassisted within twenty seconds. In all other cases mentioned above, they must regain their feet unassisted within ten seconds. The Referee shall not permit a Boxer to continue boxing, if in their opinion they are able to do so, until the expiration of 8 seconds following the knock down.

 

I'm not always in agreement with the things Steward has said, but there is weight to what he said here. I've always imagined McClellan giving Roy lots of problems and seeing how we later learned that Roy's chin wasn't exactly concrete, combined with Gerald's incredible power, and maybe GM KOs Jones.

Not likely, but ya never know!

 

Definitely depends when this fantasy match happens. At MW or SMW Roy is untouchable, it was only once his reflects started to go that he started getting KO'd really. So if we are talking later era Roy at LHW then a chance he gets sparked. After all McClellan is probably as good if not better than Tarver and Johnson. Also Gerald was pretty big so I imagine would have risen to LHW at some point.

On the other hand even if Gerald had KO'd Benn in a few rounds he was still damaged goods, probably in a worse state if he had gone a few hard rounds with Benn before winning. I suspect he may well have been KO'd by someone else probably in a shock upset soon after even if he wins against Nigel. Also he would have been even more vulnerable at LWH with naturally bigger guys hitting him. If in this fantasy match up we still keep the G-man with neurological damage I think it is just a ticking time bomb before what happened against Benn happens to him at LHW.

 

I love Steward but sometimes he gets too excited about the POTENTIAL of a boxer and jumps the gun.
He said Oba Carr was the most talented boxer he had ever seen at Kronk when Oba was first turning pro at 18 years of age.
Ralph Ward and Dennis Milton were two decent boxers and they both beat Gerald back to back.
Sanderline Williams was a soild pro and he went the distance with Gerald.
People also forget that Gerald usually came into the ring about 2 weight classes above his opponents.
I still remember the Baptist fight and Gerald looked like a freaking lightheavy next to Gilbert.
I get tired of the "well Roy Jones was lucky he didn't fight Gerald" talk because as a pro Roy was WAY above Gerald and it wasn't even close.
And to be honest Its hard for me to feel sorry for Gerald because of what he is well known for.

 

Clear to everyone but a certain Fight Doctor who was calling the bout for Showtime.

Ferdie Pacheco is calling McClellan everything but a dog and questioning his heart while the man is right in front of him in serious neurological distress. He’s like ‘I don’t know why he keeps blinking like that’ dismissively … when excessive blinking is a known sign of brain trauma.

Never heard Dr. Pacheco ever walk back his pathetic performance calling a fight where a guy is involuntarily putting on a clinic of what textbook brain trauma looks like … much less Ferdie never called for the fight to be stopped, never went to the corner to tell them their man was suffering brain damage, never went to the ringside doctor to ask why he’s not doing his job — nope, Ferdie is calling McClellan a quitter with all this going on.

Disgusting.

 

I love Manny too... but he also said the same about ODLH as well ,, lol

 

Agreed! Ferdie also didn't understand why Joe Frazier may not have liked being called a "gorilla" by Ali. Saw this in a Joe Frazier documentary a while back.

 

Its

Its called Karma.

 

I bet he’d pay it again. Imagine being a dreamless little kid in his situation, better death in the ring than the street. He lived and “died” like a man.

 

Agreed, he hand debt to the universe that needed to be paid. He acted evil, the thing past the stars collected.